


An Unlikely Alliance

by VelourFanClub (toomanysorrows)



Category: Europa Universalis (Video Games), Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: F/F, Friends to Lovers, Middle Ages, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 02:08:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16864222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toomanysorrows/pseuds/VelourFanClub
Summary: While their armies sack Vilnius, two girls share some alone time.





	An Unlikely Alliance

**Author's Note:**

> Uuuh this is vaguely inspired by the waifu universalis mod for EU4 bc the designs were cute. I figured I'd tag it as hetalia too since to an extent these characters can just count as hetalia oc's
> 
> Great Horde's name is Alsu, Livonian Order's is Maria
> 
> (Also yes Great Horde has tiny horse ears, in this canon her whole family except maybe the Timurid Empire do)

Vilnius burned.

The sight was one that wouldn’t have been out of place two centuries ago, when the mongol armies first swept westwards, leaving only ashes and trampled corpses in their wake. Vilnius had been spared that time but that was hardly a comforting thought right now for its inhabitants. Warriors, both on horse and on foot, raced through the burning city, finishing off survivors of the siege, looting houses, dragging away captives.

What was strange about the scene was that these warriors weren’t the only ones participating in the looting. Soldiers armed in the western fashion, with plate and large warhorses, were there as well. Their white cloaks and tabards were emblazoned with crimson swords and crosses, marking them out as the sort of people that were theoretically not supposed to be sacking Christian towns along with heathens.

That, however, was of no concerns to the two girls in the great, felt tent, back in the army’s camp. Both Livonian Order and Great Horde were pouring over a map there, depicting the realms of Poland and Lithuania. The Polish-Lithuanian army had already been shattered earlier and now that they had taken the Lithuanian capital the war was practically over, so it was time to think about the peace terms.

Maria couldn’t focus on it though. They’d already been up since morning, plus this was basically their final victory! It was exciting! She didn’t want to stay here and be cooped up and plan, she wanted to celebrate a little!!

The knight looked back up, towards Alsu who was still focusing on the map. She had her tongue stuck out a little bit and her horse ears flicked slightly now and then. It made Maria giggle softly at how cute the sight was.

Alsu looked up at her, a questioning look on her face.

“Did you say something?”

Maria quickly shook her head.

“Nah, I just coughed a bit is all! It’s getting a bit chilly you know, I think I might have caught a cold.”

It wasn’t an outright lie. It was a good thing they had mostly finished the campaign right now, it was already the end of autumn and soon the campaigning season would be over. The temperature had dropped and she had caught herself sniffing a bit more than normal lately. She couldn’t wait to be back in Fellin when this was all over, next to a big hearth fire. The order officially preached austerity and Christian ideals of course, but for higher-ups like her there were plenty of comforts to be had.

Alsu nodded at her, seeming to accept her explanation.

“Alright, I’ll get you a blanket.”

As the Tatar woman went to rummage around through some chests placed along the edges of the tent, Maria watched her from behind and couldn’t help but smile a bit as she remembered how this had  
all come to be.

Not very long ago this kind of alliance with an infidel would have been considered inconceivable, both by the leadership of the order and by herself, but the times had changed. Lithuania had converted to Catholicism, slowing down the influx of crusaders from the west. Her big sister Julia, the Teutonic Order, had taken a massive beating at the hands of Poland, reduced to only a small portion of her former territory thanks to Poland and Brandenburg. From what she could tell from the latest correspondence her sister had only recently started being able to walk again. Since Poland’s wrath had been mostly focused on the Teutonic Order back then, she came out of the war relatively unscathed, only having to pay reparations. But she had known it was only a matter of time before The Poles and Lithuanians turned their eyes towards her. So she had gone out and looked for allies, and she’d found them in the most unlikely of places.

The Great Horde was still mighty, even if she wasn’t the Golden Horde anymore, but she had been watching the developments north of her border with ever-growing concern. Russia had once just been a  
collection of small, squabbling principalities, an easy cash-cow for her. But now that upstart Muscovy had conquered and subjected one princedom after the other. After it had dealt a crushing blow to Novgorod she knew she had to do something to make herself stronger against this threat. At first she’d reached out to her old siblings in the east, but they were all preoccupied, either squabbling amongst themselves or gearing up for fights with the settled empires there. Any clan leaders who were not yet aligned with one of the ruling houses would soon join them, instead of the successor state next to the giants of Muscovy and Poland-Lithuania. And the Ottoman Empire to the south had been too busy dreaming of the spoils of Constantinople to care about her co-religionist in the north. So she had had to look for unorthodox allies.

Eventually the two found each other, and an uneasy alliance was forged, though neither side trusted the other wholly. Alsu and Maria had started up a correspondence (in slightly broken Russian) but at first it had been strictly business-like: discussing strategies, war aims, logistics and of course simple formalities to let it seem like they didn’t think the other would abandon them at the first sign of trouble.

Over time though, cracks started to show in those facades. It was mostly Maria’s work: unlike Alsu who had always had siblings to keep in contact with among the other Mongolian successor states, she’d only ever had big sister Julia to confide in, and that loneliness made her at least want to try to find some sort of friendship with the other girl, no matter their differences. She asked some simple, friendly questions, like what life was like at the Tatar court, what she thought of other nations around them, things like that.  
Alsu had been apprehensive, always being somewhat shy and business-like (especially compared to her sister Oirat) but eventually she’d opened up, slowly. Soon the two were sending each other letters frequently, telling each other of the daily happenings in their respective realms, complaining about advisors or leaders they thought were obnoxious, even sharing some dreams of the future. By the time the war got under way they had become fast friends.

The plan they had decided upon was thus: the Livonian Order would attack first, a small invasion into Lithuania, not too far so she wouldn’t have to cover too wide a front with her limited resources but serious enough to draw the Polish-Lithuanian armies to her. When they were well and properly distracted, the Great Horde’s horsemen would quickly ride through southern Lithuania, subjecting what towns they could but not getting bogged down in unnecessary sieges. They’d destroy any small armies in their way but otherwise they would focus on getting to the north as soon as possible to crush the enemy’s armies between their two armies.

It wasn’t a perfect plan by any means. The Polish-Lithuanian armies were bigger than expected, and there had been several moments in her defence where Maria thought she’d lose a critical position and the Poles and Lithuanians would be able to sweep her armies of the table. Somehow though, she’d managed to hold out and at the same time cause a decent amount of losses to the enemy, so when Alsu’s troops arrived the enemy was wiped away. Maria couldn’t help but grin as she imagined Poland’s face when she heard the news.

After that, it had been a pretty uneventful march down to Vilnius, with just some remnants of the enemy army to mop up here and there. It had left her and Gureto a surprisingly large amount of time to bond, and bond they had. They’d go on horse rides together or spar or just sit together in the evening to have dinner together. She’d learned a lot about the other girl. For someone who was generally regarded as a barbarian who did nothing but raid and plunder Alsu was surprisingly cultured. She had a fondness for Persian poetry and owned quite a collection of books on it, a lot of them sent as birthday presents by her little sister Timur. Maria wasn’t altogether different, owning a (kind of secret) stash of works about courtly love that she’d managed to convince France to send her once. They’d often try to read them to each other and discuss them at night and it was surprisingly fun, even if a lot of the intricacies got lost in their clumsy translation attempts.

Maybe it was that activity in particular, that caused Maria to start to develop romantic feelings for her ally. When you’re sitting together on a soft fur blanket in a dark tent, only illuminated by soft candlelight, and you talk together about love and beautiful women, something is bound to happen sooner or later. It also didn’t help that Alsu was just… Just so adorable! She had this adorable expression when she concentrated, but at the same time when she relaxed she had such a precious smile, like a little bear cub that just had a pot of honey! Not to mention those little horse ears on her head that were constantly flitting around to indicate her mood. How could Livonia not fall for her?

Also the way she could pierce someone’s eye from 200 meters away was really, really hot.

Maria was shaken out of her reveries by Alsu returning with a big, woollen blanket.

“Will this work?”

Maria nodded happily and took the blanket, draping it around her shoulders. It was indeed nice and warm, and if she tried she could vaguely smell Alsu on it.

“Yeah, thanks! This should help me not get any more sick than I already am.”

Alsu nodded and immediately went back to the map. However it hadn’t even been a minute before she let out a yawn. A yawn that was so cute that it almost made Maria squeal, though she managed to suppress it.

“Hey, it’s getting kind of late. Maybe we should leave it here for now, yeah? We can come back to it tomorrow.”

Alsu nodded slowly, thinking her words over.

“You’re probably right. We might end up making mistakes if we stay up too late.”

“Exactly! I’ll go back to my tent now then, but I’ll see you tomorrow?”

She had almost turned around when she heard Alsu speak up.

“Actually…” The girl seemed almost hesitant for a moment, like she was doubting whether she should continue her sentence. After a moment she continued:

“That might not be smart. If you’re becoming sick going out at night might make it worse... You can stay here, if you want?”

Maria had to stop herself from immediately accepting. So she pretended to think it over for a while before slowly nodding at the girl before her.

“Yeah, you’re right. I wouldn’t want to be too sick to get a good peace deal. Plus,” she winked at Alsu, “spending more time with you is hardly something I can refuse.”

She noticed a small blush come onto Alsu’s cheeks, but at the same time a small, genuine smile came across the girl’s face.

“I’m glad. I only really have one bed here and it is a bit small, but I can make myself comfortable enough with some blankets on the floor.”

Maria quickly shook her head.

“Of course not! It’s your bed! I’ll just take the floor. I sleep in a sleeping bag usually, so it’s nothing I’m not used to.”

Now it was Alsu’s turn to shake her head vehemently.

“That won’t do. You’re the guest, so you’re the one who should have the bed. Besides, if you sleep on the floor you might get sicker, even with all the blankets.”

Maria sniffled a bit. She had to admit her friend was right on that front, just like she usually was. Still, she would not be comfortable forcing Alsu to give up her bed. Suddenly another solution popped into her mind, albeit one she had some trouble voicing out loud.

“Uhm, we… could share? It might be a bit small but, if we cuddle…”

They looked at each other for a bit, both blushing and Alsu looking a bit stunned at the suggestion. Maria was about to say she was only joking when Alsu spoke again:

“That… That would be the most practical solution. Alright.”

The atmosphere was different after that. Full of tension and apprehension, though at the same time not in a bad way. It wasn’t like the air before a battle, when you never knew what was going to happen.  
It was more like the air before a Christmas Eve dinner, where you didn’t know what people were going to say and what dishes were going to be served, but you still knew it was going to be good. The kind of tension that made you long to find out what would happen instead of making you afraid of it.

They both changed out of their clothes, keeping their underwear and shirts on, all while carefully avoiding looking at the other undressing. Like Alsu had said, the bed was small, but Maria had slept on hard guard cots before and this was still far better than those. Plus, she was far more occupied with Alsu getting in next to her. The smaller girl pulled the blankets up over them and for a moment they just lay there in awkward silence, neither really knowing what to do or how to move.

Eventually Maria just burst out laughing. When Alsu looked up at her, a questioning look on her face, she had to choke out her answer between the laughter.

“S-sorry it’s just…. It’s just that this is so silly! We’re just sharing a bed but we’re acting like we’re newlyweds! It shouldn’t be this… this awkward right? It’s ridiculous!”

Alsu blinked for a moment, before a small smile came on her face too.

“Heh, yeah, you’re right. And it’s not like I haven’t shared beds before.”

Maria grinned, leaning in.

“Ooooh you have? So the fearsome Great Horde likes cuddling with pretty girls in bed?”

The girl immediately turned crimson and quickly looked away.

“Sh-shut up, I was talking about my sisters…”

Maria could see that Alsu wasn’t seriously angry at her, but she still decided it would be best for the both of them if she stopped teasing. So she just lay down again, her arms to the side so Alsu could  
cuddle up.

“Well, good, I can expect you to not kick me in my sleep then at least. Come on.”

Alsu rolled her eyes slightly but did as Maria said. After quickly putting out the oil lamp next to the bed, she lay down next to her and scooched closer. After a few moments of hesitation she reached out to put an arm around the crusader, pulling her a bit closer. Maria put her own arm around the horse girl in return and soon they had both closed their eyes, their breaths evening. Maria was about to fall asleep when she felt Alsu tighten her grip and nuzzle into her neck. After a little while she spoke up.

“Maria?”

“hmhm?”

“I’m really glad you’re here.”

Maria couldn’t help the smile coming onto her face. She leaned down slightly to place a soft kiss between Alsu’s horse ears.

“I’m really glad you’re here too.”

Alsu nuzzled a bit closer and soon it was evident she had fallen asleep. As Maria looked down towards the girl’s cute sleeping face, she thought that the peace deal wasn’t the only future they’d have to talk about tomorrow.


End file.
